KANSAS CITY, Mo.-- A lot of times when reporters interview Derek Lowe, they don't ask the first question.

He does.

So it was Friday night after the Indians scored seven runs in the first inning to ruin Kansas City's home opener with an 8-3 victory.

"Where do you want to start? Seven-run first inning? Yeah, let's start there," said Lowe, 2-0 with a 1.98 ERA with his new team.

The Indians came into the series tied for last in the American League in runs scored. They hadn't scored seven runs in a game, much less an inning. But in front of a sellout crowd of more than 40,000 at Kauffman Stadium, all the baseball quirks that hurt them during a 1-4 start worked in their favor in the first inning.

"Anytime you pitch on the road in the other team's home opener, there is going to be a lot of excitement in the park," Lowe said. "To silence them so early, you couldn't ask for anything more as a starting pitcher."

The Indians pushed the mute button in a hurry.

Leadoff hitter Michael Brantley singled to start the game against Luke Hochevar. It ended an 0-for-15 slump and gave Brantley just his second hit of the season in 18 at-bats. Before the inning ended, he would collect his third hit of the year.

Asdrubal Cabrera doubled Brantley to third and Shin-Soo Choo made it 2-0 with a single through the right side. They were Choo's first runs batted in of the season.

Hochevar retired the next two batters, but Shelley Duncan wouldn't let the inning end. He sent a check-swing single into shallow right field to score Choo for a 3-0 lead. Choo put himself in scoring position with a steal of second base.

"It's a funny game," manager Manny Acta said. "We had two games at home where we couldn't drive in the winning run from third base with less than two out. Then we get a check-swing RBI single with two out that kept the inning going and allowed us to score seven."

Duncan enjoyed the moment.

"It's beautiful when it happens," he said. "A lot of check swings end up right in front of home plate and you're cussing yourself running down the line."

There was no cussing involved on Duncan's 90-foot sprint to first.

"I got to first and just thought, 'awesome,' " said Duncan. "I chuckled."

Casey Kotchman, who came into the game hitting .095 (2-for-21), followed Duncan with a single to right. Then Jason Kipnis, hitting .095 (2-for-21) when he stepped into the box, sent a wind-blown triple over center fielder Jarrod Dyson's head to make it 5-0. Hochevar was getting booed and the Indians were rolling for the first time this season.

"You could definitely see some sighs of relief," said Kipnis. "You could see some guys' shoulders get a little looser . . . guys who had been pressing.

"It was all gravy from there. Everyone already has a hit, everyone has already done something. You just try to have good at-bats the rest of the way."

Jack Hannahan singled to score Kipnis. Brantley's second hit of the inning, a double off the wall in right, scored Hannahan with the seventh run.

The offense, with the exception of Cabrera's leadoff homer in the ninth, shut it down after that. The rest of the game was in the hands of Lowe and relievers Tony Sipp, Joe Smith and Vinnie Pestano.

Not to mention a defense that turned three double plays.

The most important double play came in the first. The Royals opened the inning with three straight ground-ball singles to make it 7-1. They had runners on first and second when Billy Butler hit into a 4-6-3 double play.

"We stopped their momentum right there," Lowe said.

Sipp, Smith and Pestano did not allow a run over the final 2-1/3 innings. Lowe scattered 11 hits and allowed three runs. He struck out two and didn't walk a batter on 92 pitches.

"If you only give up three runs, they call it scattering 11 hits," said Lowe with a smile. "If you pitch bad, they say you got shelled on 11 hits."

Hochevar (1-1, 7.84) knows exactly what Lowe is talking about. He gave up seven runs on nine hits and was knocked out of the game at the end of the fourth inning when Carlos Santana sent a liner off his left ankle.

"They came out turning and burning," Hochevar said. "I felt like they hit everything I threw in the first inning, which they did."

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